Leading direct-to-home (DTH) player Dish TV, which is part of the Zee group, on Saturday announced it will offer set-top boxes free of cost to its subscribers.
The move is strategically planned at a time when Bharti and Big TV are also about to launch their services
NEW DELHI: Leading direct-to-home (DTH) player Dish TV, which is part of the Zee group, on Saturday announced it will offer set-top boxes free of cost to its subscribers. The set-top box plan will be bundled with movies-on-demand worth Rs 2,490 to Rs 3,990 depending on the package that a subscriber opts for.
This freebies comes at a time when Sunil Mittal’s Bharti and Anil Ambani’s Big TV--are preparing to commercially launch their respective DTH services. Also in queue is the Videocon group. Currently, Dish TV’s main competition is TataSky (a JV between Star and the Tatas).
Sun TV also launched DTH recently in the south at a flat monthly subscription rate of Rs 75 without additional charge for a set-top box. Plus, there’s DD Direct Plus, the free-to-air DTH service of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
In 1989, Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB had distributed set-top boxes free to rope in subscribers at the time of the DTH launch in the UK.
It is believed that the existing and new players cannot afford to ignore the Dish TV offer of free set-top boxes, and may be forced to follow suit.
Dish TV’s MD Jawahar Goel said by waiving the set-top box cost, the company has been able to remove the entry barrier to DTH. The company hopes to double its monthly addition of subscribers to 180,000. Its current subscriber base is 3.1 million. The railway is all set to do a pilot run of Dish TV.
Till now, any Dish TV subscriber had to pay a one-time cost of Rs 2,500 for the set-top box and its installation, and a monthly subscription fee between Rs 100 and Rs 300 depending on the number and type of channels opted for. And, for movies on demand, there was an additional cost of Rs 55 to Rs 75 per film.
Under the new plan, subscribers can choose between schemes valid for 18 months, 12 months, six months or three months. So if you pay an upfront subscription of Rs 3,990 for 12 months under the Maxi package (151 channels), you also get 67 movies-on-demand free worth Rs 3,990. For a 18-month Freedom Plus package (98 channels), the charge is Rs 3,990 upfront as subscription fee which will get one 67 movies.
For a six month Maxi package, you pay Rs 2,990 and get 50 movies. And you will pay Rs 2,490 for a six-month Freedom Plus and get 42 movies worth Rs 2,490.
Asked about the timeframe of the offer, Goel said any marketing scheme is valid for at least 45 days without specifying the duration of the new plan.
At present, four to five movies on demand are available to a Dish TV subscriber at a given point, and the number is set to increase.
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